SCHOENING, Byron

SCHOENING, STEVENS, MASS, HAFER, NIELSEN, JENS

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner (email)
Date: 4/10/2006 at 16:58:34

Opinion Tribune
April 4, 2006

Byron Schoening, 88, Silver City

Byron "Bud" Edward Schoening, age 88, of Silver City, died March 27, 2006 at Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs. Private funeral graveside services were held at Silver City Cemetery on March 31, 2006. Pastor Mike Stevens of Silver City United Methodist Church officiated the service. Military Honors by Gordon May American Legion Post 439, Silver City.
He was born on the family farm east of Silver City, on Oct. 25, 1917 to Edward William and Bertha Dorthea (Mass) Schoening. His early years were spent on the family farm until they moved to Silver City in 1930. He worked with his father running the tractor and threshing machine until his graduation from Silver City High School in 1935.

He was married to Marie Virginia Hafer on Sept. 8, 1938 in Rock Port, Mo. In 1939, they moved to Canoga Park, Calif., where he went to work at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, building engines for fighter planes. He was drafted into the Army in the spring of 1945 and was stationed at various bases in the United States as a wheeled vehicle mechanic. He was discharged in 1946, and he and his wife returned home to Silver City.

In September 1947, a daughter Linda was born, and in April 1949, a son James was born. Mr. Schoening started his own mechanic business, the S & N Garage in Silver City, with his brother-in-law Raymond Nielsen. Later he worked for Buffington Motors in Glenwood and then he again started his own business. He was a very knowledgeable mechanic with a reputation as being the best. His greatest joy was overhauling an engine and a tractor, and then seeing and listening to it work in the field.

In June 1968, he went to work for the Glenwood Community School District as their mechanic and transportation supervisor. He retired from the school district on June 30, 1983. He remained in Silver City until June of 2005, when the couple moved in with his daughter and son-in-law due to failing health. He had recently resided at Montclair Nursing Center in Omaha, Neb. and had just returned home to Silver City at the time of his death. He and his wife had been married 67 years.

Mr. Schoening never met a person he didn't like and was excellent at remembering a person's name. He enjoyed a cold beer, good friends, and great laughs. He will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved him.

He was preceded in death by his parents in 1975. He is survived by his wife Marie of Silver City; daughter Linda Jens and husband Owen of rural Glenwood; son James Schoening and wife Rose of Silver City; four grandchildren and four step-grandchildren; five great-grandchildren and eight step great-grandchildren; sister Carol Larsen of Council Bluffs; numerous nieces and nephews; and a host of great friends.

Memorials suggested to Gordon May American Legion Post 439, Silver City. Hertz Funeral Home in Glenwood was in charge of arrangements.